Lexus IS previewed in camouflaged glory: We drive the new sedan before it debuts at the Detroit auto show

December 4, 2012

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What is it?

Lexus has had a busy 2012: from a new LS to a new ES, almost every car in its lineup has been revamped and redesigned. Now the relentless march of progress casts its steely gaze upon the diminutive IS, which has been little changed since 2006. The small segment is what wins hearts and minds in the luxury car war; it's where allegiances are fought and conquered over stalwarts such as the Audi A4 and the BMW 3-series, along with newcomers such as the Cadillac ATS and competitors such as the Acura TSX and Buick Regal. Chief engineer Junichi Furuyama makes no bones about it—his team benchmarked the BMW E90—the last generation 3-series—when developing the new IS. In Lexus IS tradition, it once again looks to Munich for inspiration. This new IS, Furuyama says, will be more precise, with more communication between vehicle and driver, and an increased emphasis on driving dynamics—and more emotion, inside and out.

For starters, that means potential Lexus buyers had better get used to the "spindle" grille (their words, not ours). The IS comes with the most fearless interpretation yet: its three-dimensional grille bulges outward, wearing its Lexus badge like a medallion. The IS 250 and IS 350 models get different front bumper treatments but both are suitably aggressive.

The rest of the IS retains similar dimensions from the current model. Its GS-sourced chassis adds to the wheelbase and incidentally adds stability. Rear wheel arches are stretched to dramatic proportions. The headlights and taillights are both swoopy and angular at the corners—and in front are jagged LED-laden spars for the turn signals that are separated from the headlight body. Along with that massive Predator-faced grille, that's going to raise some eyebrows when the camouflage comes off.

Speaking of camouflage, we drove the IS on public roads as well as at an informal autocross track, becoming the sort of spy-photo targets we've always hunted down ourselves. On the road that camouflage paint manages to startle entire families in Honda Civics, sending camera phones waving, as well as baffled bystanders and dawdling middle school kids who pointed and jabbered excitedly while blocking our intersection. People in a current Lexus IS barely recognized us. Perhaps, Lexus figures, that's a good thing.

What's it like to drive?

Our autocross course in the Santa Anita Racetrack parking lot was sopping wet, a rarity for Los Angeles but a boon to show off the IS's newly christened stability and grip. We drove the 250 and 350, largely carryover powertrains from the last generation. Lexus product planners told us that a hybrid model will be available in Europe only; Americans will simply content themselves with the CT. The 250 was lively, its rear end easy to manage; it felt not only far lighter than the 350 but also nearly matched it in straight-line acceleration. In the 350, with the traction and stability control off and the reassuring safety of an empty parking lot, we had to manage its rear end delicately to preserve grip. Putting the 350 in Sport Plus mode firms up the electric power steering to hefty levels. By comparison, the 250—which doesn't get the Sport Plus option—has a noticeable center soft spot in its steering.

We ran into some issues with the transmission, which now has eight speeds in the 350; still six in the 250. (No manual will be offered.) Both upshift imperceptibly and readily, dipping into the rev limiter. But the car wouldn't allow a downshift while coming out of a corner even though there was still plenty of rev range left. It's a teething issue, undoubtedly, one that we expect to be fixed when it's ready for showtime. In various Sport modes the transmission needs to be far less conservative and far more aggressive—after all, isn't that why there's a separate Eco mode?

Do I want it?

Overall, Lexus sought to inject some of the GS into the smaller IS. The new GS is a runaway success, catching us off guard with how multi-faceted it could be. Turn the knob to Eco and you get all of the refinement you'd expect from a Lexus. Turn it to Sport, then once more for Sport Plus and you get all the loud, screaming track-day furor you'd never expect from a Lexus. We had hoped that the IS 350's Sport Plus mode, which adjusts the constantly adaptive dampers and firms up the power steering, would display this same contrast. While the steering felt more linear throughout its motions, the IS 350 remained calm, quiet and composed, with little body roll and a little too much Lexus dulling of the senses. Whereas the difference in the GS was like Jekyll and Hyde, the IS is more like Jekyll and his mildly annoyed cousin Bruce.

We expect so much out of our cars these days. We want them to cruise at 30+ mpg on the freeway all day, then rip lap times around our miniature neighborhood Nürburgring when the sun sets. We want them to be seen and heard. We want to command diverging philosophies at the push of a button—or in this case, a twist of the knob. The GS performs this with stunning alacrity. Perhaps we've been spoiled by that. But Lexus wants to imbue some of that duality into the IS. It hasn't—not yet, anyway.

Lexus promises us a more in-depth drive sometime early next year, after the IS is revealed in its final form in Detroit. Already, Furuyama promises us that between now and when it goes on sale in the first quarter there will be time to implement the changes that we suggested: transmission software tuning, for starters.